The Beautiful Village judges are due to come and inspect the flower beds mid-afternoon. At 9:10 the mayors mobile rings. Three of the judges have gone down with a bug. Heartfelt apologies for the inconvenience are proffered. Callous would be the man who observed that the judges visit coincided with the four o'clock kick off of the France v Uruguay match in the World Cup. This obviously had absolutely nothing to do with the sudden change of plans.
In the greengrocers some unappetizing brown things and something Chinese wrapped in cellophane make an appearance. There are no signs to indicate what these might be. The lady behind the till shrugs her shoulders when asked. She continues her conversation with the woman at the other till over the price of bottled gas.
The baker has decided that cakes will not be much in demand today ...
.... but he has made a mountain of sandwiches for white van men who will work through lunch in order to be home in time to watch the match. The PONs get some small pieces of baguette.
In the village hall the mayors wife's dried vegetable arrangements are locked away in the office. The prize giving will be rescheduled to coincide with the judges visit later in the month. Putting the dried vegetables under lock and key removes any chance of the two tike's repeating last years trick of rearranging the gourds and pumpkins into a series of phallic tableaux. By quarter to four the place is packed in readiness for the match. The farmers and their male offspring all sing the Marseillaise lustily and with studied indifference to both the tempo or the tune. They weep. This always surprises foreigners who tend to sing their anthems almost apologetically and most certainly do not weep when doing so.
France win their game 2-0. We learn that the Uruguayan national anthem ( which I had never heard before ) has a long introduction, is very operatic and has words that are studied with exclamation marks. We leave shortly after the final whistle. The villagers stay on until the small hours.
$19.25 for a beer. Have absolutely no idea how big 22oz's is but still seems like a cause for revolution. The comments are entertaining : https://twitter.com/lucchesi/status/1014940115880140800
13 comments:
Thank goidness the dried vegetable arangements have been secured!
I attended a meeting at the Total office in Aberdeen yesterday, secure in the knowledge that the French chairman, notorious for allowing meetings to run on, would bring proceedings to a close well before 3pm UK time! (Total's drilling manager, a normally very impressive Argentinian lady, has apparently been unusually subdued this week, perhaps for once in her life wishing she worked for a British company!)
Cheers! Gail.
I think those unappetizing brown things are jicama. They are commonly found here in the southwestern US, imported from Mexico. They're eaten raw with a texture like a potato, taste somewhat like celery.
Too bad the judges didn't show, but at least France won. $19.25 for a beer is really outrageous. Did you see the commenter who said he had bought a beer and a crab sandwich for a tab of $75.00? A young doctor must find SF a very expensive place in which to live even without attending ball games. Or is that the doctor who's now in DC?
Goodness - I see I've had a sandwich named after me ! Fame at last - well actually, Coppa was the name of the second Labrador we had, over twenty five years ago. He was always my boy !
No matter how you try, there's no real escape from football ! Thankfully now that I am on my own, I don't need life to be dictated by the matches - except to avoid them ! This is a now football free residence !!
22 oz. is .65 of a liter. Not much, and not really what I consider craft beer. If it's mass produced and widely available, it's not craft to me. Way too much for a beer, no matter what kind it is.
Hari OM
As mentioned above, I believe the root to be a Jicama ('ground apple'). As I see tamarind and betel nut and despite being a little smaller than usual, I think the chinese 'veg' might be banana flower.
Never mind the soccer - the tennis is riveting and I don't have enough screens! YAM xx
A quick glance at your title and I was relieved to see that Judgement Day has been postponed. I may not be quite ready. Stephanie in Northern California
For once the 'Font' was wrong...!
The Font of all Knowledge should perhaps be The Font of 99.99% of all knowledge - football excluded.
You and me both !
One has to wonder why anyone would wish to eat anything with the texture of a potato and the taste of celery.
PS The Stanford one is mortified at SF prices.
Got to be a 90%+ profit margin which seems excessive.
Thank you. Far too exotic for this Presbyterians tastes !
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